Grant will fund research into public health supply chains in low and middle-income countries

Published 28 Feb 2018

Press release number PR-SOM-18-22

Cranfield School of Management and Pamela Steele Associates (PSA) have been awarded a two-year grant under the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme.

The grant will enable PSA, with academic support from Cranfield School of Management, to have a researcher as part of its full-time staff. PSA aims to strategically streamline its knowledge of public health supply chains in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) and develop an economic model for sustainable capacity development in the health supply chain sector that can be adapted to a specific country situation.

Pamela Steele, CEO and Founder of PSA, points out that: “While PSA has the expertise in public health supply chains for low and middle-income countries, we don’t have the expert knowledge in-house to develop economic models required for a strong decision-making tool for in-country use. The KTP scheme has given PSA the opportunity to excel our research projects and become truly competitive in the sector we work in. With Cranfield’s academic expertise, we will be able to progress with an innovative tool that can make a difference for millions when it becomes part of a national health supply chain policy for developing countries.”

The KTP scheme provides partial funding for two academic advisors from Cranfield School of Management. Professor Joe Nellis – Professor of Global Economy – and Dr Constantinos Alexiou – Reader in Economics – will support the project.

Professor Nellis said: “At Cranfield, we are passionate about transforming knowledge into action that makes a real difference to the practice of management worldwide. In order to do this, we work very closely with businesses, and have regularly demonstrated over the years how such partnerships can deliver valuable change. We are looking forward to working more closely with PSA on this project, which we see as having the potential for significant positive impact on healthcare supply to millions of people in developing countries worldwide.”

The KTP is a UK-wide scheme and one of Europe’s leading programmes. It helps businesses to improve their competitiveness by enabling them to work with educational institutions to obtain knowledge, technology or skills which they consider of strategic advantage. The programme is co-funded and overseen by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, and is supported by 16 public sector funding organisations.

About Cranfield University

Cranfield has been a world leader in management education and research for over 50 years, helping individuals and organisations learn and succeed by transforming knowledge into action. We are dedicated to creating responsible management thinking, improving business performance and inspiring the next generation of business leaders. We work to change the lives of our students and executives by encouraging innovation and creative thinking, as well as the drive to succeed and make a real impact on their organisations.

Organisations as diverse as Jaguar Land Rover, BAE Systems, Royal Dutch Shell, L’Oréal, UNICEF and the African Development Bank have benefited from our work, which ranges from management research projects, through staff talent management development on our MBA courses, to customised executive programmes.

Cranfield is one of an elite group of Schools worldwide to hold the triple accreditation of: AACSB International (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) and AMBA (the Association of MBAs).

We are in the Top 10 International Business Schools in the Forbes’ ranking.

Our open and customised executive education programmes are ranked in the top five in the UK, according to the latest Financial Times survey, and in the top ten in the world for international reach. Over 10,000 people come to Cranfield each year to benefit from our executive and professional development programmes.